for final talks with egypt's leaders. nbc's jim maceda has more. >> reporter: morsi, the former muslim brotherhood leader has boosted his credibility with u.s. and israel, and has become a politician to deal with in the arab world but it is one thing to broker a cease-fire, now he will have to enforce it and crack down on hamas and their weapons smuggling >> reporter: president obama who visited israel as a candidate four years ago but not since has to decide his next steps. >> the first thing he has to do is decide whether or not he is going to invest in the effort to resolve the israeli-palestinian conflict. i think at the moment it is a stain on his legacy. >> reporter: the u.s. officials are looking at what could be the birth of a new start with the less clear is how the u.s. will handle hamas, which is clearly empowered >>> and now, how all of this is playing out in israel and gaza, nbc's veteran middle east correspondent martin fletcher is in tel aviv tonight. and our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel is in